Question for UK brides

[beth83]

Hi everyone. I'm a bridesmaid for a friend of mine thats is from the UK but I'm American and she is marrying an American and the wedding going to be at Disney.My question is what is some customs for brides from the UK. Do they have bridal showers and stuff like that? Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[leonix8238]

UK brides more typically have what is called a 'hen night' rather than a bridal shower. Hen nights generally consist of a group of the brides closest female friends going out for the evening to have fun. This can be as wild or as tame as you like for instance some people in the UK go out clubbing in fancy dress with the sole purpose of getting very drunk whilst others book a nice spa weekend. Games are usually played, the bride often wears a sash proclaiming her 'the hen' as well as a learner plate and veil. I'm sure google will be able to introduce you to the wonderful world of hen nights if you're interested - be warned some of them don't end well!

The only other traditions I know of that are different from that of American brides are that we normally do not feed each other cake, though we do have a formal cutting of the cake. We also usually have a formal 'signing the register' photo where the bride and groom sign the marriage register. I doubt either of these things would be of much importance to your friend, I know they were not to me.

HTH's!

 

[epcot.girl]

UK brides more typically have what is called a 'hen night' rather than a bridal shower. Hen nights generally consist of a group of the brides closest female friends going out for the evening to have fun. This can be as wild or as tame as you like for instance some people in the UK go out clubbing in fancy dress with the sole purpose of getting very drunk whilst others book a nice spa weekend. Games are usually played, the bride often wears a sash proclaiming her 'the hen' as well as a learner plate and veil. I'm sure google will be able to introduce you to the wonderful world of hen nights if you're interested - be warned some of them don't end well!

Our hen nights are equivalent to bachelorette parties in the US (with stag nights and bachelor parties being the male equivalents).

We don't really have anything to compare with a bridal shower over here, although I'm sure your friend won't object to having one OP! Gifts given over here seem to be done individually rather than in a single setting (such as the bridal shower), so it would just be a more organised way of doing the same thing really.

 

[beth83]

Thanks for the info and It was very appreciated.

 

[Chilly]

In the UK the Bride/Groom typically pay for everything unlike in the USA where the MOH/BMs pay for their own dresses etc.

We don't generally give gifts apart from the actual wedding present so no bridal shower gifts (although I did get given some on my hen party).

 

[beth83]

It seems the best thing to do is combine customs of both UK/USA. So either her fiance familily and her family doesnt get offended by not doing the normal wedding stuff from the customs